


staying afloat

by cassandor



Series: beyond the beach [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M, POV Jyn Erso, Tumblr Prompt, my attempts at writing action, someone tagged this with 'at least they die TOGETHER in canon' when I posted this on tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 00:08:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11092791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassandor/pseuds/cassandor
Summary: cassian loses jyn. For @rebelcaptainprompts prompt #8: “agony, fingers, and shiver”





	staying afloat

_One. Two._

Jyn sees stars, pain searing through her body. She collapses to the ground, groaning in agony, clutching at the blaster wounds. 

 _“Jyn!”_ Cassian’s voice breaks in anguish, as if he was physically sharing her pain. “Jyn!” His voice reaches her while he can’t, fending off the impending Imperials. 

Blood seeps through her clothing, a sickly warm feeling creeping up her side. She pulls her hand away and the tips of her fingers are stained a dark red. Her head spinning, she manages to drag herself out of the way of blasterfire. _I have to hold on until he gets here_. 

Steadying her breathing as best as she could, Jyn brings herself to peer at the wounds. She inhales sharply. _It’s bad_. She needed to be in a medbay in an hour at the latest. She tries not to think about what would happen if she wasn’t, attempting to shake Cassian’s agonized face out of her mind. They had fought so hard to stay afloat together, and she wouldn’t drown alone. _I promise._

 _Where’s Cassian_? She tries to see the firefight, but she can’t lift her head. Swearing to herself, she leans against the closest wall and waits, undoing her scarf and pressing it against the injury, counting minutes in her head as the warmth of life leaks out between her fingers.

She’s cold, so unbearably cold, icy water lapping against her side. It was if the death that eluded her at Scarif was now breathing down her neck. The thought sends a shiver down her spine. 

When Cassian finally reaches her side, face streaked with dirt and eyes wide with concern, she can barely make out his face in the blurry haze of her mind.  

“Cass…” she gasps, unable to form his full name, trying to grasp at his face swimming in and out of her vision. _Help_. 

“I’m here, I’m here, don’t worry,” he murmurs, pulling out his medkit and working quickly to temporarily patch up the injury, his face a mask of neutral concentration. His fingers feel warm against her skin and her throat tightens, because wasn’t Cassian usually the cold one? 

“ _Cass_ ,” she tries again. He looks up at her from under his eyelashes, and Jyn catches a glimpse of the pure fear in his eyes. She feels like she’s being dragged underwater, and reaches out to Cassian to pull her up, desperate to keep afloat. _Don’t let me go._

He takes his hand in hers, their fingers intertwining together, both stained with blood - _her_  blood. She’s shaking, shivering from cold, shock, and the sheer effort of hanging on to the remaining scraps of life. “I’ve got you,” he says, ready to hoist her up in his arms. “Hold on.” 

Jyn tries to nod and give him a reassuring smile - _I’m trying -_  but it’s getting harder to keep her head up. She gives his hand one tight squeeze - _I’m sorry -_ before the waves pull her under. 

She never lets go of his hand. 


End file.
